People get fired for all sorts of dumb reasons.

Would you be upset if you were fired for really dumb reasons? Would you try to fight the termination, walk away from the job, or would you get malicious about how you left the company?

In this story, heck hath no fury like an employee scorned.

Let’s not quit before we check it out…

Following a termination letter to a T

I was working for a security company, let’s call it ASD security.

We had 3 shifts, day/evening and night for the weekday and 12 hours shifts for the weekend.

Being the new guy, I was night shift. The job was at a trucking company.

The job sounds straightforward enough.

We were in a boot in the middle of the entrance and our job was basically to make a ticket that we give the driver for the in and out’s of trucks.

Driver’s name

Licence plate of truck

Truck’s trailer number

Date stamped (did the stacks at night)

And we had a log for trailer numbers also that we cross checked.

Sounds like a lot to keep track of on a long night.

Because it’s a night shift and less traffic, our job was also a perimeter check, logging in all trailers and trucks in a separate log, stamping the date on tickets (maybe 200 tickets roughly if not more) and we were a call center for other security guards on other sites.

Meaning every hour, the other security guards would call me (around 12 of them) to check in and say everything is fine.

If one didn’t check in, I call, if no one answered, I had to send a patrol car to make sure everything was ok.

Seems like OP has the hang of it though. But there’s bound to be a problem.

Also making sure the doors are locked, the security system armed, and cleaning the boot.

The client of the trucking company complained to ASD security that I was #1 always on my phone, #2 didn’t like the fact that I was smoking cigarettes (he said too much), and #3 that he saw me on a camera talking to myself and found it weird.

His phone was handsfree.

1: One week in after training was done, there was no way in heck I was going to be picking up or making 12 calls an hour. I got my old Bluetooth headset ( single ear thingy ) and hooked it up to the work cellphone.

That helped me stamp the crap out of the tickets while taking the calls.

I could be on a security check of the property and still take calls and write down the incoming calls, I could even do the logs of trailers since I was handsfree.

But hey, I was on my phone too much. What else to do at 3 am eating my lunch and browsing the web or taking 12 calls an hour?

Sounds efficient. And reasonable, minus the 3 am lunch. Points 2 and 3?

2: Because I had a routine down and I even changed the order of my routine so it does not become predictable.

I was able to streamline my job and had free time, so I took breaks here and there, smoked a cigarette, and went back at it.

I smoked at the designated spot that was near my boot, so I had a view of the incoming/leaving trucks, if one came by, I just chucked the cigarette in the bucket and did the truck.

Nope the client didn’t like that.

I mean smoking is bad for you, but people still do it. Point 3?

3: Well that ties in to #1… or I would be singing to music that was playing in my earbud or commenting out loud on something I was hearing on the radio.

Monday morning, my shift was about to end, everything is done, my checklist is empty of tasks, and who pulls up in an ASD Security car: my director.

Something tells me she doesn’t come bearing gifts.

She pulls me to the side, hands me a letter and explains what’s happening.

Letter of termination due to the client’s complaint. Reason #1, 2, and 3 and please sign on the dotted line.

Only thing I said was, “Seriously ?!?”

Fair response. Cue MC?

Here is my compliance, the letter stated that my termination was in 1 week.

Here the laws are that if a company terminates/fires you, they have to give you two weeks notice, if the notice is shorter than 2 weeks the remaining time must be paid out.

Happily signed and she already signed her part. I went in the boot to collect my things. My supervisor is the one doing day shift and was puzzled.

He asked me what was happening.

I just told him, Madame ASD Security just fired me and the letter say’s my last day is Friday.

Yep, there it is. Love when the bosses communicate. What next?

He told me to stay in the boot and started yelling at the director while walking towards her. He came back swearing because he was not told ASD Security was firing me, they didn’t have a replacement guard and training was about 1 week.

Along came Friday, my supervisor was not happy.

I had a trash bag with uniform and gear they gave me. After my shift was done, I drove to the office, dropped the bag on Madame ASD Security’s desk and left.

She was not at her desk.

Mic drop. Will OP get out unscathed?

My phone rang, it was the director asking what the heck was going on and why did I bring back my uniform as I still had 1 weeks notice left to fulfill legally.

I just answered, “As per the termination contract we both signed, on Monday 20th of May 20xx, last day of work will be Friday the 25th 20xx.

“I am sorry but legally speaking, as this letter is signed by both parties, if I come in to work past the 25th and something goes wrong I am not covered by ASD Security and this letter can be used as proof against me.

“Please send me my check of the remainder of my two weeks notice by mail, have a nice day.”

So polite. Doubt it will go down any easier with Madame though.

She tried to contact me again in the afternoon, my phone was on mute as I went to bed.

I woke up to a text message saying they are screwed and don’t have a replacement for me could I come in at least for that weekend.

I did not answer and never heard from her again.

My ex-supervisor called me asking if I was going to come in.

I said no.

Because he doesn’t work there anymore?

He was swearing because he had the call the day guy, put him on the night shifts, and take his place during the weekend.

It messed up the schedule and the hours of everyone, they had to fork out overtime not paid by the client because it was an ASD Security problem.

They had to find a replacement ASAP and train him and get him to work solo during the following weekend, more overtime and more screwed up schedules.

In case you’re dying to know what the schedule is, see below…

My shift was:

Wednesday 11pm to Thursday 7am

Thursday 4h45pm to Thursday 11h45pm

Friday 11h45pm to saturday 11h45am

Saturday 11h45pm to sunday 11h45am

Sunday 11h45pm to monday 7h45pm

8/8/7/12 35h week 1

12/8/8/12 40h week 2

I don’t recall 100% my schedule but it was something along those lines.

We get the gist.

It was a weird one, all that to accommodate the supervisor because he wanted a lighter week and the evening person couldn’t do Friday evenings and other garbage.

You can imagine the screw up with the schedule once I left.

Probably a wreck.

What do the comments have to say on Reddit?

This person says, the client isn’t always right.

Someone else says, earpieces are important.

Another poster points out how there’s a reason for turnover.

This user poses a good hypothetical.

Another person says “no questions asked” isn’t always the right policy.

Two weeks notice goes both ways, I guess.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.